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D. and the Art of Learning
By
Bhavna
Rai
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Sunita and I always call him D. Our own little code word in our own
little world. She would sometimes use di but that reminded me of the
Princess so I always preferred to stick to d.
His entrance into our life was unexpected, but then most of
God’s little gifts are almost always unexpected.
He didn’t seem like a gift at all – unfriendly … decidedly,
arrogant … definitely, rude … undoubtedly. Sunita didn’t think
much of him at first. In fact everyone wondered how he and I got along
at all. That question was never answered.
One of the first things he did was force me to buy a book that he
felt would really help me. “Its about life” he had said, and always
maintained that he had had a sixth sense that I needed it.
I had needed it but it just so happened that he said that to
everyone. Everyone needed something to make them stop and think. And
that was just what I was about to start doing.
Who am I? Where am I going? Is this what I had wanted to be?
Questions ran wildly through my head and I didn’t have an answer for
any of them. D of course had all the answers as long as the questions
being asked didn’t involve him. He had his own logic for everything in
life – his favorite one being “ Everything in life is temporary. You
just have to learn to deal with it ”. Like most people, he couldn’t
solve his own problems but could see everyone else’s clearly. And he
was always there to listen to them and help out. He loved to welcome
everyone to his ‘rehab’ program – which is what he liked to call
it.
As time went by the three of us became almost inseparable. We
couldn’t have been from more diverse backgrounds. With a two-year age
difference between me and D and another two years between him and Sunita,
with different dreams and ambitions, different styles of talking and
with completely different lives before and ahead of us, we were an
unlikely threesome. But we got along like a house on fire.
Its been said that life is not just about being happy. It’s
about the experiences you have, the people you meet and the lives you
touch along the way. Well D was really beginning to touch our lives. It
started with his style of talking. Sunita and I picked it up unknowingly
and soon all three of us were talking in his typical way. So many times
when he wasn’t around, I would say exactly what I knew he would say
had he been there. I could always feel his presence. Sunita and I just
carried on being swept away in the storm – doing the things he liked
to do, going to his favorite joints, watching the movies he wanted to
watch … we were living his life and he was beginning to get used to
the extended group.
But all good things come to an end and before we knew it, it was
time for me to leave. Sunita and I felt as if we had this bond which was
about to be broken and we both knew that things would never be the same
again. But D seemed totally cool. He was of the opinion that one should
cherish the old but get on with the new. For both Sunita and me, tears
flowed endlessly the day I was leaving, while D stood patiently watching
us do the predictable sentimental farewell. He didn’t want any part of
it.
Now, six months down the line, all the promises to keep in touch
have disappeared and the three of us have grown vastly apart. We are
leading the busy, different lives that we always knew we had. But
there’s still something that hasn’t changed. The smile that comes
sneaking onto our lips the moment those days are recounted, the memories
that each of us can still relive just by closing our eyes, and the
presence.
It’s no longer their presence I can feel. It’s their
personality that rubbed off on me. It’s no longer what they would say
or do, because I now do that myself. It’s no longer missing them or
being lonely, because I carry them with me, always. They are now a part
of the person I am, and this is their greatest gift to me.
